Large polished floor surfaces are the standard for the modern retail environment. For both appearance and cleanliness, these surfaces are waxed and buffed. In the modern store environment, relatively large (from one-half to three feet in diameter), high speed buffers are utilized.
The standard construction of these buffers is relatively easy to describe. They usually include a wheel mounted chassis carrying a motor for driving the buffer. These buffers depend from the chassis for polishing the floor. A protective hood is mounted to the chassis and depends over the high speed rotating buffer during polishing floor contact. This protective hood serves to prevent contact with the rotating buffer pad from either above or from the side. When the floors are first swept and/or mopped, and thereafter waxed and buffed by such buffer, a clean and inviting appearance is imparted to the store.
Unfortunately, such buffing is far from a dust free environment. The large buffing pads, rotating in the order of 2,000 revolutions per minute, accumulate dust on their respective buffing surface. This dust is liberated during the dusting process by passing under the protective cover at the sides of the rotating buffer pad. Such dust liberation is especially aggravated when the buffing pad during polishing comes against any irregularity in the surface being polished--such as a seam in the flooring.
Further, the dust that is liberated is particularly obnoxious. Typically, it is of extremely small particle size--slightly larger than one micron--and is centrifugally thrown outward of the buffer during the high speed buffing operation.
Left uncontrolled, this dust liberation represents a serious problem. Dust from buffing is thrown outwardly at high speed, billows upwardly from the buffing site, and settles everywhere, including high surfaces that are relatively removed from the floor surface being polished. Further, and while the dust is airborne, it is at least even with the nose and mouth of workers operating the buffer apparatus. Consequently, it constitutes a health hazard due to the possibility of inhalation.